The Regret of God
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
5/30 Reading Portions: Deuteronomy 3; Psalm 85; Isaiah 31; Revelation 1
Genesis 6:6-7
And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
GRIEF
The King James Version renders these two verses in this way:
And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them.
The KJV translators wisely followed the lead from the Geneva Bible, published in 1587, which renders Genesis 6:6 like this:
Then it repented ye Lord, that he had made man in the earth, and he was sorie in his heart.
While the ESV is easier to read in the English language, the translators of yesteryear understood the difficulty that would arise in expressing this thought from the nature of God. Notice that the KJV didn’t say that YHVH repented, but that the situation of man’s continual evil (Gen 6:5) “repented the LORD.”
The Triune God is consistent in His nature and attributes. God doesn’t turn off His mercy, love, and grace to demonstrate His wrath, justice, and judgment. Moreover, the Scripture tells us,
God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? Numbers 23:19, KJV; emphasis added
God’s regret and repentance is not like ours. He is holy and expresses a holiness in His nature and character from our verses today.
Interestingly, the same Hebrew word נָחַם (na-CHAM), translated “repented” (KJV) and “regretted” (ESV), literally means “sigh,” yet often implies “ease,” “rest,” “relief,” “comfort,” “sorrow,” or “repentance.” It is the same Hebrew root word from which Lamech named Noah (Gen 5:29; click here to read earlier devotional).
YHVH God was grieved and sorrowful over the sin of mankind, but through His promise of a Messiah to come, He was relieved and comforted. This dichotomy is most especially understood at the cross of Christ. Though His wrath was poured out upon His one and only Son for the sins mankind has committed against Him, Father God was comforted through the substitutionary judgment and death of His Son; and in His comfort, the Father graced redeemed souls like you and me with godly sorrow, repentance, and relief. It is written,
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10
YHVH God, through His one and only Son, regretted sin and repented on our behalf, because the corruptions of our mortal flesh, stain even the best of our good works. Christ repented to fulfill all righteousness at the River Jordan though He had nothing to repent from (Matt 3:15); Jesus regretted the sin of man and despised the shame of sin thoroughly, righteously, and in perfect holiness (Heb 12:2); and Jesus suffered for sins He did not commit so that by faith in Christ, we would become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21). This is the gospel truth of imputation.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
